The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Hi Guy's
I always come here for good advise about these old "Time Machines". I found this
"Barona" I think it's close or is the same as the 4-40. Anyways the picture's
kind of speak for themselves. I think the finish on the body is workable but how would you go about fixing
the top if it belonged to you? Always appreciate the time taken to answer my questions.

With that amount of finish missing I'd strip the whole top surface and redo it with spray lacquer- there isn't enough left to fix. As to the rest of the cabinet you should give it a good cleaning you might be able to blend some of the damaged areas with a solvent and then give the whole thing a coat of Howard's Restor a Finish. I'm sure others can give you more tips on technique.

Strip the whole thing at one time. You will never be happy with the results if you try to refinish the top and then try to blend/match the rest of the cabinet.

In this case I feel it would not be sack religious to strip and refinish the entire cabinet as long as you try to maintain the correct color. The finish under the lid should be your example.

My 2 cents.

fmblizz

I would split the difference. I would clean the entire cabinet, then re-amalgamate and add new finish to the top using what remains of the finish on the top, along with any remaining grime, to give the same patina as the sides. If you don't like the result, then go for the full strip.

I have done this and had reasonably good results.

Granted that pictures can sometimes be deceiving, but it looks to me as though everything but the lid was stripped in the past and that there is very little, if any, original finish left on the rest. Being an Orthophonic I believe it would have had a satin lacquer finish of the color of the remaining bits on the lid. It looks much too light to be the original and all the gloss and depth are gone, so I doubt there is really anything to salvage. That being the case, I'd just do the surface prep and refinish with a low gloss lacquer of the appropriate shade. You’d then have a very handsome machine.

Fortunately, in terms of difficulty in refinishing, from the pics I’ve seen this one did not have the multi-toned finish Victor was so fond of in those days, so it should be fairly straight forward.

Clay

Actually, some Barona machines were veneered in walnut, as was this one, and a light colored finish was often used for the Canadian market. I believe the finish on the machie to be original, though damaged to the point ewehre it is not really worth preserving. Deft lacquer, wet sanded with 600 grit paper and then wax polished will pretty accurately duplicate the original appearance of this machine, if you are not experienced with a sprayed lacquer finish.

I had one of these years ago, and the colour of the original finish was the same as the the front of this machine. It had the original finish and it was fairly shiny. I have never seen a American Barona but I sense from what you folks say that they were more matte than the Canadian ones. The two tone effect on the doors on mine was very marked: the dark parts were very dark brown, almost black.

JRT

I believe these were VV 4-40s here in the US.

http://www.victor-victrola.com/4-40.htm

Where were these sold as the Barona and did they have different finishes there?

Clay

Altona1, if you decide to strip off the old lacquer, give Citristrip a try. I know some other folks on this board have used it with good results, and I used it on a piece of furniture (nasty poly finish) and it worked really well. It's available at most any home improvement mega-store

I think to get a nice even appearance on this machine, you're going to have to attack the whole cabinet with a new finish. Just my opinion based on the pictures.

Actually, lacquer thinner does a fine job of stripping lacquer, and it doesn't remove the filler or the stain.

The American VV 4-40 is most commonly found in mahogany veneer, stained a very dark "English Brown", with a filled grain lacquer finish, but not too high a gloss.

I've seen only a very few AMerican VV 4-40 machines with walnut veneer. They are attractive machines indeed, and really are a different bird form the common run of 4-40.